Combined phonograph and moving-picture apparatus.



D. HIGHAM.

COMBINED PHoNoGRAPH, AND Mov'l'NG PICTURE APPARATUS.

AFLICATION FILED IIAY-I7| 912. I 1,226,883. Patented May 22, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

f/z/ZZW? 4W 343% K, M e M n. HIGHAM. COMBINEDPHONOGRAPH AND MOVINGPICTURE APPARATUS.

^PPl..IC ATION FILED MAY Il. 1912.

Patented May 22, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oE'EIcE.A

' DANIEL HIGjHAM, 0F NEW YORK, N. Y.

COMBINED PHONOGRAPH 'AND MOVING-PICTURE APPARATUS.

To all whom/r11,l may concern Be it known that I, DANIEL HIGHAM, a

ycitizen of the United States, and a resident ratus, of which thefollowing is a descrip-l tion.

This invention relates to apparatus by means of which a series ofmovingpictuires are exhibited upon a screenV or otherwise, this visualrecord being accompanied by the record of the .sounds appropriatethereto, delivered in exact synchronism, each sound with the' picture towhich it belongs. lhe principal objects 0f the invention are to 1mpi'ovethe` construction of apparatus ofthe above named character and toprovide an improved method of securing an alinement of the movingpicture and sound records for synchronous operation, the improvedapparatus being alone claimed in this application.

In accordance with myinvention, the sound reproducing means is arrangedto be operated at will with or independently of the motion pictureapparatus, suitable means being provided for connecting said soundreproducing means for synchronous operation with the moving pictureapparatus at the proper moment for securing an alinement of the movingpicture and sound records. The sound record is preferably provided witha mark or index which can.

e readily identified with a view on the moving picture record or film sothat by this means, the sound record may be set into such a position onits support that by startin the rotation or movement of the latter, asnya clutch or other starting means, when the said view is exhibited, analinement between the two records is obtained. In practice, I have foundthat if the motor or other operating means for the reproducing mechanismis positively or unyieldably connected with the Said mechanism, the`latter starts so suddenly upon the throwing in of the clutch or startingmeans as to frequently cause the reproducer to jump out of the recordgroove or from one groove to another; so that a proper alinement of thetwo records is v not obtained. In order to obviate this objection, Iplace a yielding connection between the motive-means and the recordSpecicaton of Letters Patent.

lppucanon ned my 17,1912. serial No. 697,839.

support of -the sound reproducing apparatus; whereby the sound recordsupport is caused to start into rotation gradually at the operation ofthe clutch or other starting means. In order to always produce an exactalinement of the sound and picture records, the time taken to throw thesound reproducing means into operation upon the appearance of the properview must be subst antally constant. Because, however, of differences inpersonal equation involving different speeds of ,operation for differentoperators, the time taken by different operators to shift the ordinarymanually movable clutch for starting the rotation of the sound recordsupport varies considerably; and this form of clutch is, therefore, notsufiiciently accurate in its operation for use with devices ofthe classin question. In order to overcome this last named objection, I providefor the automatic operation of the clutch by means, such as a spring,which is capable of always performing the desired operation in a fixedtime. A manually releasable latch may be employed to resist operation ofthe clutch actuating mechanism.

According to the improved process forming a part of my invention, acombined aural and v1sual signal is produced, as by the striking of abell, and recordedon thesynchronous operation, the sounds and views fwhich are to appear on the final records are recorded. The portion ofthe moving picture recoid or film containing the view or' views showingthe production of the alining signal is then removed, being preferablyreplaced by a section of film containing a title or other inscription,the sound record being provided with a mark or index to denote the pointthereof correspending with the first view following said new section offilm. A positive having been made from the moving picture negative, thesound record is set with the point corresponding to the said view underthe stylus of the sound reproducing apparatus; so that when inexhibiting said positive, the above named view is exhibitedxby themoving picy lowing specification and appen picture apparatus. Otherfeatures of my invention will appear more full in the foled claims.

In order that my invention may be more clearly understood, attention ishereb d1- rected to the accompanying drawings orining a part of thisspecification and in whichy Figure 1 is a view, partly in front eleva.-

tion, and partly in section, of apparatus em-r bodying my improvements;

Fig. 1lL is a cross section taken on line a-a of Fig. 1.

Fig. 2 lis a fragmentary plan view showing a detail of construction;

Fig. 3 is a view taken on line A-A of Fig. 1, and looking inthedirection of the arrow;

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic side view showing the moving picture andphonographic y apparatus connected together for synchronous operation;

Fig. 5 is a face v1ew of section of negative film containing viewsshowing the striking of a bell to produce the signal` graph shown is ofthe type in which a cylindrical record carrying mandrel or support isfed axially past a stylus which is in contact with the record surface.The base'plate 1 l has secured to it or formed axially therewith theyoke or arch 2 by which the sound box 3 is carried. The sound box isprovided with a stylus 4, which is shown in Fig. 1 as cooperating with arecord 5 mounted upon the mandrel 6, the latter being secured to andcarried by a sleeve 7, which is rotatablymounted in uprights 8 and 9 onthe traveling carriage 10. The traveling carriage, carrying therewithmandrel 6 and sleeve 7, is adapted to travel along guide rods, 'one ofwhich is shown at 11 in Fig. 1 and the other of which (not shown) isarranged in the rear of the rod 11 and parallel therewith. The rod 11 ismounted in brackets 12 and 12 rising from the base plate 1. The sleeve 7is formed on `its bore with a keyway 7 which is engaged by a key orspline 13 on the drive shaft 13 adjacent the iight hand end thereof, theleft handend o the drive shaft being rotatably supported in an upright14 on the base plate 1. In order to produce the proper feeding ormovement of the carriage 10 and the record support upon the rotation ofthe shaft 13, the following means are provided. Sleeve7 has securedthereto a gear 15 which operates a gear 16, the said gearsbeingrhcarried by the traveling carriage 10. e gear 16 is fast on thefeed screw 17 which is carried b the traveling carriage 10. A nut 18carried b the stationary frame of the phonograph engages with the feedscrew 17. It will be evident that upon rotation of the shaft 13, themandrel 6 will be rotated; and by means of the gear train includin thegears 15 and 16, the eed screw 17 wille rotated and the travelingcarriage with the mandrel and record thereon carried or fed past thestylus 4. So much of the construction of the phonograph as specificallydescribed above is disclosed in my application, Serial No. 488,078 filedApril 5, 1909, and does not form a part of the present invention.

My phonographic apparatus comprises the i:

following improvements: A short shaft 19 is supported in a bearing 20 onthe base plate pf the phonograph and is arranged in alinement with theshaft 13. The shaft 19 carries a friction member 21 which is providedwith a hub-like portion mounted on the said shaft and also with a flangeextending outwardly of the latter. Upon the hub of the member 21 isrotatably mounted a drive pulley 22 which is held in frictionalengagement with the flange of member 21, as by springs 23. A collar 24is mounted on the end of 4the member 21 opposite that carrying thefriction flange and serves to limit axial movement of the drive pulley22, a pin or equivalent means 25 passing diametrically through thecollar 24, the hub of the member 21 and th`e shaft 19, and therebyserving both to hold the said collar against movement on the member 21and to secure both of these members to the shaft 19. Driving pulley 22is driven, as by a belt 26, from a pulley 27 connected with a motor (notshown) The shaft 19 is provided at its end adjacent the shaft 13 with anenlarged toothed portion 28 so that it is adapted to be connected withor disconnected from the shaft 13 b a clutch 29 having a toothed faceadapted or engagement with the toothed face of the enlargement 28. Bythe provision of the frictional connection between the pulley 22 and themember 21, the shaft 13, the mandrel, and the record thereon arepermitted to start gradually into rotation upon the throwing in of theclutch 29 regardless of the comparatively high speed of the pulley 22,this gradual rotation being insured by the momentum of the recordsupport and feeding mechanism as well as by the friction of the stylus 4on the record 5. Th clutch 19` may be moved into or out of clutchingengagement with the enlargement 28 by means o f an arm 30 pivoted at 31and IIJ y lever 37, the latter bein from the base plate 1 vertical axis.

39 may be released from the lever carrying at its upper end a pin 32which engages with the reduced portion 33 of the clutch member 29. Arm30 has secured to the .lower end thereof, as by the pivotal connection34, a link 35 which is pivotally connected at its opposite end, as at36, with a pivotally supported or movement about a As stated above, Iprefer to operate the clutch 29 automatically, as by a spring. Iaccordingly provi e a tension spring 38 connected at its endsrespectively to thev base plate of the phonograph and to one end of thelever 37, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. In order `to resist the operationof the clutch by the spring 38 and to cause the clutch to be held out ofengagement with the member 28, I provide a latch lever 39 pivoted, aslat 40 to a lug 41 projecting below the bed plate 1 and secured thereto.The lever 39, as shown in Fig. 1, is provided with a notch adapted toreceive/the forward end of the lever 37 and to prevent rotation of thelatter by the spring 38. The ,latch 37 by depressing a member 42projecting above the base plate 1 and pivoted, as at 43, to the end ofthe latch opposite that adapted for engagement with the lever 37. Thenumeral 44 designates a button or finger piece secured to the top of themember 42 to facilitate the manual operation thereof, and the numeral 45designates a compression spring adapted to hold or return the member 42to its raised position and to normally hold the latch in engagement withthe lever 37 It will be seen that a very slight depression of the member42 will cause the lever 37 to be released from the latch 39 and permitthe spring 38 to cause the clutch to be thrown into engagement with themember 28. It will furthermore be seen that the time taken for throwingin the clutch is practically independent of the speed or personalequation of the operator. A member 46 provided with a knurled head andsecured to the pivot of the member 37 permits the manual adjustment ofthe lever 37 into latching engagement with the member 39.

Referring to Fig. 4, the numeral 47 represents a moving pictureapparatus as a whole and the numeral 48 a phonographic apparatus, thelatter being arranged behind a screen A upon which the pictures from theapparatus 47 are adapted to be projected, the apparatus 47 and 48 beingconnected for synchronous operation. Various kinds of synchronizingapparatus such as that disclosed and claimed in my application, SerialNo. 461,869, filed November 10, 1908, may be employed, the apparatusshown comprising a flexible member 49 passing over a pulley 50y securedto the shaft 19 (see Fig. 1) of the phonographic apparatus, as by ascrew 51 (see Fig. 1), this member 49 being connected with the movingpicture apparatus 47 to cause the operation of the latter in synchrotheapparatus is started into operation, a

person comes on the. stage and strikes a bell or equivalent means with ahammer or in any other suitable way makes a distinctive sound which canreadily be identified with a picture or view of momentary duration, thesound and view being simultaneously recorded by the phonograph and thecamera respectively. After this, without stopping the recordingapparatus, the song and dance orl other matter to be recorded areproduced and the combined phonographic and moving picture records made.oped moving picture film or negative made in this way is shown in Fig.5, the lifth picture from the bottom showing a hammer 53 or othersuitable striker in engagement with a bell Y54. After development of theoriginal film, the pictures showing the striking of the bell arepreferably removed, being foreign to the subject matter of the remainderof the record. Preferably a new section of film containing a title orother suitable inscription is cemented or otherwisesecuredq to the film52 in place of the removed portion. In practice I remove about the firstten pictures on the original film, but it is obvious that the number ofpictures removed depends upon the nature of the signal and the visualrecord made thereof. It is also obvious that the strip of film replacingthe removed section need not be of exactly the same length as thelatter; and in practice, the portion of vthe film containing the titleis commonly made from fifteen to twenty feet long for ordinary movingpicture film. Positives are now made from the negative by any suitableprocess, one of these positives being shown in Fig.' 6. The title havingbeen secured to the negative, these positives may obviously be made inone continuous strip free from joints.

The `phonograph record made as described above will have a series ofundulations 55 (see Fig. 7) formed by the sound emitted when the bellrepresented at 54 is struck by the hammer. As the length of the portionof film from the view showing the striking of the bell to the first ofthe original views retained in the positive is known, the length of thesound record impression from the undulations 55 to the pointAcorresponding with the first picture following the title in thepositive picture lm can readily be deter- A develmined. This havingbeendetermined, a mark or index 56 is placed at the periphery of thesound record to indicate the proper angular position of the sound recordwith respect to the reproducer stylus when the sound reproducingmechanism is arrangedfor reproducing the sound or sounds corre--sponding to the last named view. This mark is preferably arranged to beplaced in alinement withthe reproducer stylus in placing the reproducingmechanism is starting position. As shown in Fig. 7, the mark` 56 isplaced in alinement with the end of the series of undulations 55, thecorrect position of the reproducing stylus in this instance, for thebeginning of the sound reproduction being shown in dotted lines at 57one revolution in advance of the said undulations.

In reproducing the combined record with my improved apparatus, theclutch 29 is set to disengage the shaft 13 from the driving pulley 22.The phonograph record 5, or a duplicate made thereof by any well knownprocess is placed upon the mandrel 6 with the reproducing stylusvengaging the beginning of the record groove; and the record is thenmanually rotated until the sound or sounds corresponding to the originalalining signal are heard. After this, the record is rotated the necessaramount for bringing the reproducer sty us to starting position, thisposition being accurately obtained by bringing the mark 56 intoalinernent with the reproducing stylus. The positive film is thenexhibited, beginning with the title, by means of the moving pictureprojecting orexhibitin apparatus 47; and when the first picture folowing the title or inscription is exhibited, the operator presses thefinger piece 44 to release thecatch 39 and permit the spring 38 to causethe clutch 29 to be thrown in engagement with the member 28. In thisway, an exact 'alinementof the moving picture and sound records isobtained; and by means of the synchronizing connection between thephonographic and moving picture apparatus the two records'` may bereproduced in synchronism.

It is obvious that various changes may be made in the details ofconstruction of the apparatus shown, and inthe exact particulars of themethod'described without departing from the spirit of my invention.

Havlng now described my invention, what I claim and desire to protectbyLetters Patent of the United States is as follows 1. In a device of theclass described, the

combination of a rotatable support, driving means, power transmittingmeans connected with said driving means and comprising a plurality ofyieldably connected members, and means for operatively connecting said 1power transmitting means to or for disconnectingl the same from saidsupport, substantially as described.

2. In a device of the class described, the l combination' of a rotatablevrecord support, a shaft connected therewith for rotating the same,driving means, power transmitting means -connected with said drivingmeans and comprising a plurality of yieldably connected members, and,means for operatively connecting said power transmitting means to or fordisconnecting shaft substantially as described.

3. n a device of the class described, the combination of a rotatablerecord Support, a shaft connected therewith for rotating the samedriving means including a pivoted member, power transmitting meansconnected with said driving means and comprising a plurality ofyieldingly and frictionally connected members, and means for'operativelyconnecting said power transmitting means tov or for disconnecting thesame from said shaft, substantially as described.

` 4. In a' device of the class described, the combination of a rotatablerecord support, a shaft connected therewith for rotating the same,driving means, power transmltting means connected with said drivingmeans and-comprising a plurality of yieldably connected members, and aclutch for opera connecting said power transmitting means to or fordlsconnecting the sameI from said shaft, substantially as described.

5. In a device of the class described, the combination` of a rotatablerecord support, a shaft connected therewith for rotating the same,driving means, 'power transmitting means connected with said drivingmeans \and comprising a plurality of yieldably and frictionallyconnected members, and a clu'tch for operatively connecting said lpowertransmitting means to or for disconnecting the same from said shaft,substantially as described. t

6. In a device of the class described, the combination of a rotatablerecord support, a shaft connected therewith for rotating the same,driving means, power transmitting means comprising` a plurality ofyieldably connected members, nected with said shaft, and 'the other withsaid driving means, and a driving member connected for synchronousrotation with said shaft, substantiallyas described.

7. In a device of the class described, the combination of a rotatablerecord support, a shaft connected therewith for rotating the same,driving means, power transmittin means comprising a plurality of yieldaby connected members, one of which is connected with said driving means,means for o eratively connecting the other of said yiel ably connectedmembers to or for disconnecting the same from said shaft, anddriv-l ingmeans connected for synchronous 4rotation with said last named member,substantially as described.

the same from said ively one of which is concombination of a rotatablerecord support,

a shaft connected therewith for rotating the same, driving means, powertransmitting means comprising a plurality of fric` tionally connectedmembers, one of which is connected with said driving means, means foroperatively connecting the other of said frictionally connected membersto or for disconnecting the same from said shaft, and driving meansconnected for synchronous rotation with said last named member,substantially ,as described.

9. In a device of the class described, 'the combination with a drivingmember, a driven member, and means adapted to operatively connect saidmembers, of automatic means for moving said connecting means. intooperative position, spring operated means for holding said moving meansinoperative, means forreleasing said holding means, and means for movingsaid automa'tic means into operative relation to said holding means,substantially as described.

10. In a device of the class described, the combination of a drivingmember, a driven I- member, andmeans adapted to operatively connect saidmembers, of automatic means for operating said connecting means, saidautomatic means comprising a plurality ofV levers, a link connectingsaid levers, and a spring for moving said link and levers, means forholding said automatic means inoperative, and means for releasing saidholding means, substantially as described.

11. In a device of the class described, the combination 'with a drivingmember, a

A driven member, and means adapted to 0peratively connect said members,of au'tomatic means for moving said connecting 'means into* operativeposition, means for holding vsaid moving means inoperative, means forreleasing said holding means, and

pivoted means for moving said automatic means into operative relation tosaid holding means, substantially as described.

l2. In a device of the class described, 'the combination with a drivingmember, a driven member, and means adapted to operatively connect saidmembers, of automatic means for moving said connecting means intooperative position, spring operated means for holding said moving meansinoperative, means for releasing. said holding means, and pivoted meansrfor moving said automatic means into operative relation to said holdingmeans, substantially as described.

13. In a device of the class described, the combination with a drivingmember, a driven member, and means adapted to operatively connect saidmembers, of automatic means comprising a spring pressed lever foroperating said connecting means, a latch for holding said automaticmeans inoperative, and means for shifting said lever to move saidautomatic means .into operative relation to said holding means, sub#stantially as described.

14. In a device of the class described, the combination of a rotatablesupport, driving means, power transmitting means comprising a pluralityof yieldably connected members, one of which is connected with saiddriving means, means `iforoperatively connectingthe other of saidyieldably connected members to or for disconnecting the same from saidsupport, and driving means connected for synchronous rotation with saidlasty named member, substantially as described.

This specification signed and witnessed this 15th day of May 1912.

DANIEL HIGHAM.

Witnesses:

FREDERICK BAcHMANN, ANNA R. KLEHM.

